Think Like a Detective: Why Hypothesis Testing Beats Raw Coding Skills

Your code isn't working... what do you do? You might think, "I need to improve my coding skills... what books should I read?" However, what you actually need is a problem-solving approach, particularly hypothesis testing thinking. Coding Skills are Secondary Writing programs requires two main abilities: Coding skills: writing code that follows proper syntax and function usage Problem-solving ability: constructing logical pathways to solve the problems at hand For programming beginners, coding feels very much like "real programming," making it the most visible target for improvement. This often leads newcomers to attribute their problems to insufficient coding skills ── but here lies a major pitfall. While coding ability is related to "knowledge volume," the programming world is so vast and deep that you'll rarely feel you have sufficient knowledge for the task at hand. Problem-solving ability, on the other hand, lets you acquire necessary knowledge on the spot and move forward, even when your knowledge is incomplete. Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Facing Errors From my experience working with programming beginners, here are the most common patterns I've observed: Pattern 1: Not noticing upstream errors and getting stuck on downstream issues

Feb 17, 2025 - 17:13

Think Like a Detective: Why Hypothesis Testing Beats Raw Coding Skills

Your code isn't working... what do you do?
You might think, "I need to improve my coding skills... what books should I read?"
However, what you actually need is a problem-solving approach, particularly hypothesis testing thinking.

Coding Skills are Secondary

Writing programs requires two main abilities:

Coding skills: writing code that follows proper syntax and function usage
Problem-solving ability: constructing logical pathways to solve the problems at hand

For programming beginners, coding feels very much like "real programming," making it the most visible target for improvement.
This often leads newcomers to attribute their problems to insufficient coding skills ── but here lies a major pitfall.

While coding ability is related to "knowledge volume," the programming world is so vast and deep that you'll rarely feel you have sufficient knowledge for the task at hand.
Problem-solving ability, on the other hand, lets you acquire necessary knowledge on the spot and move forward, even when your knowledge is incomplete.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make When Facing Errors

From my experience working with programming beginners, here are the most common patterns I've observed:

Pattern 1: Not noticing upstream errors and getting stuck on downstream issues